James G. Eddy House and Grounds

About

The James G. Eddy House and Grounds is a historic property in Medina, Washington. The two-story mansion was built in 1925 for James Garfield Eddy. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since February 19, 1982. The Colonial Revival home hugging the bluff is half hidden from Lake Washington by a landscape that has been developing for nearly 90 years. When James Garfield Eddy and his family moved into their Medina house in 1918, the Great War had just ended and Seattle, along with the rest of the country, was trying to get back to normal. Twenty-two years before the first bridge crossed Lake Washington, Eddy commuted to Seattle by boat from his Lake Washington dock to the foot of Madison Street and then by streetcar into town. But it was worth the commute.

His five-acre estate, formerly apple orchards, was shaped into gardens framed by evergreens. It was an appropriate setting for a man whose family had gained from the sale of timber and sought to preserve that richness for future generations through tree breeding.